March 19, 2015 - Ottawa, Ontario
Check Against Delivery
Your Excellencies; ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here.
We coalition members are making a real difference in degrading ISIL’s threat to the security of innocent lives and security of our own citizens.
Thank you for your commitment to this mission—both in terms of our robust humanitarian response and military engagement.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Harper confirmed that our government is seeking to extend the Canadian Armed Forces’ six-month mission against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Soon—next week—the Prime Minister will present our government’s intentions in the House of Commons. And as minister of foreign affairs, let me tell you that I am tremendously proud of his decision and the moral clarity that guides it.
I can also tell you that he will ask all parties to come together, as Canadians. He will ask them to support our government’s operations to degrade and to destabilize this gang of thugs.
And in so doing, strip ISIL of its power to threaten the security of the region or to launch terrorist operations in Canada.
Today, I want to lay out for you what our government has already accomplished in Iraq.
And I want to remind you why our government finds it necessary to extend and expand its work there.
Left unchecked, this terrorist threat can only grow—and grow quickly. A threat directly posed against Canada and our allies.
If one situation represents a perfect microcosm of the larger problem, it was the appalling plight of the Yazidi people last August.
Fleeing ISIL, thousands of them took refuge in the summer heat on a high, barren ridge above the Assyrian plain, devoid of food, water or shelter. Even there, ISIL continued its attacks. Many died.
They needed aid, for a catastrophe was in the making. But even before they could receive aid, they needed protection.
The two go hand in hand.
In one of the coalition’s earliest actions, the Yazidis got both. Strikes by coalition aircraft held ISIL at bay, and supplies were airlifted in.
But as ISIL conducted its murderous rampage through the region, it was the same throughout northern Iraq.
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced, ousted from their homes, made into refugees in need of the necessities of life and, above all, of protection.
Canada sees no conflict in meeting both needs.
The plight of innocent civilians—women, children and religious minorities—is well known. All of us can be proud that we are acting boldly to protect them against ISIL’s brutality.
In the territory ISIL has occupied, it has conducted a campaign of unspeakable atrocities against the most innocent of people; it has tortured and beheaded children; it has raped and sold women into slavery; it has slaughtered minorities, taken prisoners—innocent civilians whose only crime is being or thinking differently from ISIL.
That in part is why we have deployed effective military forces to the region, even as we deliver humanitarian aid with the help of our international partners.
I am glad to tell you that in the last six months, we have helped feed 1.7 million people, provided shelter and relief supplies to 1.26 million people and given some education, at least, to half a million children.
Beyond that, we have also been helping support 215,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq, with food, water, shelter and protection. In fact, I visited one of the camps a few weeks ago in Erbil, and it was truly compelling.
Canada is the sixth-largest single-country donor to Syria and the fifth-largest to Iraq. Together, Canada and the coalition are improving the lives of millions of innocent civilians from ISIL’s terror.
Meanwhile, for nearly six months, members of our armed forces have been on active service in the region.
As of three days ago, CF-18s of the Royal Canadian Air Force had flown more than 400 sorties to destroy ISIL assets. That would include vehicles, bunkers, buildings used to assemble bombs and munitions; in one case, construction equipment intended for use in building static defences.
Their precision strikes were made possible in part by Aurora aircraft. These Auroras and their crew have flown more than a hundred sorties, and what they learn from the air is put to good use on the ground, identifying targets and minimizing collateral damage. For its outstanding professionalism, this team has received a tremendous amount of acclaim from the coalition.
With these actions we support the Iraqi army and the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga. It is fair to say that ISIL’s ability to move freely has been significantly reduced.
An RCAF Polaris has been keeping other coalition aircraft in the air. In more than 100 sorties, it has delivered more than six million pounds of aviation fuel to Canadian and coalition aircraft.
And of course, Canada’s Special Forces have done excellent work in their advisory roles, in support of both Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga. As we were reminded recently, they do so at considerable risk, and we are deeply grateful for the devoted service of all our men and women in uniform. Sergeant Doiron made the ultimate sacrifice, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.
I am pleased to say that the coalition campaign against ISIL is bearing some fruit.
Its momentum stalled, ISIL has lost some ground. Cities it once held have now been restored to Iraqi authorities.
It is also losing people.
Coalition air strikes have cost it several senior leaders.
The coalition has created the conditions for ISIL’s continued decline.
As we pursue the campaign against ISIL—we must also avoid the sectarianism that poses a threat to the unity of our cause… to the stability of Iraq and its neighbours. We must be resolved to confront this threat head-on, united in purpose for a free, stable and democratic Iraq. We all have a stake in this.
ISIL is not dead yet. Clearly, ISIL remains in control of a considerable amount of territory. It has the power to hurt, not merely in Iraq, but regionally and indeed elsewhere in the world.
Among our allies, ISIL has inspired attacks in France, Australia and Denmark.
And it means harm to us.
We are extending Canada’s mission because ISIL has declared war upon Canada.
They have called us out. They have threatened us, told us that we should not feel safe in our own communities.
And they have inspired terrorists who have lashed out at us here, twice, in our homeland, in our capital, at the very centre of our democracy.
Meanwhile, only the most diligent and effective police work has prevented even further attacks against Canadians, by people who appear to share ISIL’s apocalyptic ambitions. We are all aware of the threats ISIL poses to our national security. To our friends. To our family. To our neighbours. Canadians.
I think everyone in this room would agree that when we stand against ISIL and its cruelties, we stand for universal values. We stand for every principle that is good, decent and honourable, every principle that ISIL violates daily.
Yet, for all that Canadians are outraged by ISIL, it is not outrage that drives us to stay the course.
It is a fact that leaders of ISIL claim that ISIL is a direct threat to Canadians.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have seen their actions.
You can be sure of one thing: Canada and our coalition partners will never be complacent.
Through continued cooperation with the coalition, Canada will treat ISIL as the clear and present threat that it is.
The Canadian people fully understand the nature of the threat.
And they would have it no other way.
Thank you for your commitment to this mission. Together, we are combatting this threat, degrading its ability to strike in the region and on our home soil.
Let us continue these efforts to protect our citizens and the lives of so many innocent civilians that depend on our leadership today and tomorrow.
Thank you.
